In a touching tribute, LuPone shares the story of Indiana (named for her husband, Matt Johnston’s home state), a yellow Lab that the actress calls, “the glue that held our family together.” LuPone says the pooch served as her son Josh’s “sister” and reveals that she wrote the essay “through tears” as she remembered her pet succumbing to age and illness.

The four-time Broadway.com Audience Choice Award winner also recalls a moment when she was “in distress over some stupid show-business nonsense and having a breakdown in the middle of the night.” The beloved pet provided solace. “I fell to the floor, embraced Indy, and sobbed and sobbed,” LuPone writes. “Indy held her head up and absorbed the weight of my anguish, calming me down.”